The injection of a local anesthetic is performed routinely in a clinical setting in order to provide anesthesia of the skin for painful procedures such as laceration repairs, biopsies, lumbar punctures, the introduction of intravenous (IV) catheters, the incision and drainage of abscesses and many more dermatologic procedures. Traditionally this was performed by the use of multiple subcutaneous injections with a hypodermic needle into the periphery of the area to be anesthetized. The invention of the Rapid Local Anesthesia Injection Cone, U.S. Pat. No. 8,088,108 incorporated by reference, greatly improved the speed with which this can be done while also greatly reducing the overall discomfort and anxiety. The Rapid Local Anesthesia Injection Cone, reviewed for clarity, utilizes a flat base with multiple very small gauge needles imbedded in the circumference and these needles are buried in or juxtaposed to a compressible ring of skin marking foam rubber or other similar compressible material, which then renders the needles effectively invisible. This allows for a very rapid injection of local anesthetic without the use of visible needles while also providing a well-demarcated ring of skin dye to indicate the exact area of anesthesia.
While the Injection Cone greatly improved this painful procedure, there are situations where this proposed device would add even more overall benefit. The previous device improves the procedure in many ways but it still has the overall appearance of being a hypodermic syringe and is being utilized and handled in much the same manner as such. This similarity will continue to cause significant fear and anxiety in many individuals. This proposed device would greatly improve the speed of injection while simultaneously decreasing significantly the pain and psychological trauma associated with local anesthesia. Although this device would be most commonly employed for administration of local anesthesia, it would serve well for shallow injection of any liquid medication.
This proposed device would have a base such as that described in the Rapid Local Anesthesia Injection Cone, U.S. Pat. No. 8,088,108 incorporated by reference, but in place of the cone with a syringe attached, there would be a self contained anesthetic chamber which contains a compressible bladder or broad based vial of anesthetic.
There remains room for improvement in the current device.